Thinking of this, Chu Linlang was not overly worried.

She had already made up her mind — if she truly could not obtain the deed of ownership, she would simply bring her mother back to the capital with her.

As for Chu Huaisheng wanting to make trouble for her, she was not afraid of that either. Once they were in the capital, she could deal with him slowly and at her leisure.

For now, however, the most pressing matter was getting her mother’s health properly restored. Although Sun Shi did not have anything as severe as consumption, the chill she had caught this time had injured her airways, and she coughed badly through the night.

The day before, Chu Linlang had ordered several additional doses of more expensive tonics from the doctor. Now that she had a moment free, she was heading to the pharmacy on the next street over to collect them.

She set out with her maid, and on the way also bought spare ribs and a pork knuckle to make soup for her mother that evening.

She knew this street very well. Before the Chu family had moved into their larger residence, they had lived here.

And Situ Sheng and his mother had lived on this same street as well.

While she was making her purchases, Chu Linlang happened to glance up and noticed a middle-aged woman standing before the old house where the Wen family mother and son had once lived, in conversation with an elderly woman from next door.

Chu Linlang narrowed her eyes and looked more carefully. The woman seemed very familiar, yet she could not quite place her. She quietly asked Dongxue, standing nearby.

Dongxue took one look at the middle-aged woman and immediately recognized her — during the voyage, there had been times when the boats could not dock in time and they had eaten their meals on board. The servants of the various noble young ladies would sit together at a few tables, chatting constantly, and had grown quite familiar with one another.

Was this woman not Lady Shen, the personal household manager for the Tao family’s Fourth Aunt?

Hearing Dongxue say this, Chu Linlang’s eyelid gave a sharp twitch.

She immediately stepped behind a nearby shop’s door panel and watched Lady Shen from concealment.

Lady Shen had not noticed Linlang and her maid. Having finished her inquiries, she turned and boarded a carriage and left.

Only after the carriage had turned the corner did Chu Linlang step out and walk over to strike up a conversation with the elderly woman.

The old woman had been sitting at her doorstep enjoying the sun when she saw Chu Linlang approaching. She felt a sense of familiarity at first, and then, on looking more carefully, recognized her — was this not the Chu family’s third daughter from the old neighborhood?

Having watched the child grow up, the old neighbor was considerably more forthcoming in her answers.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chu Linlang asked what the out-of-town woman had come to inquire about.

The old woman grinned. “She was asking whether the person who used to live next door was a mad woman by the surname Wen, and whether there was anyone else besides her living there.”

Hearing this, Chu Linlang’s heart sank. She asked further: “And how did you answer her, Grandmother?”

The old woman said with a laugh: “Who on this street doesn’t know about that mad woman? Didn’t she have a son who stayed by her side and looked after her all along?”

Chu Linlang forced a smile. “And do you know where the mad woman’s son went?”

The old woman said: “After the mad woman took ill and died, wasn’t he taken away by his family? Where he went, I couldn’t say. Ah — but why are you asking the same things that out-of-town woman was asking?”

Chu Linlang gave a smile, and seeing there was nothing more to learn, rose and took her leave.

That evening, the female students from the academy were to have a night gathering with drinks on the lake. Chu Linlang had originally had no intention of going. But now she changed her mind.

So that evening she made her way to the lotus lake and joined the female students in releasing flower lanterns, drinking wine, and admiring the flower lanterns drifting across the water.

The instructors were also present that day. Taking advantage of the lantern-releasing occasion, someone started a poetry society, and everyone enjoyed the night scenery while composing matching verses — thoroughly delightful entertainment.

Among them, Instructor Liao displayed the finest literary talent. His several spontaneously composed poems drew repeated praise from the other instructors, who said that it was no wonder he had once advanced to the Palace Examination — such literary brilliance, even if he had not placed among the top three, was that of a person of exceptional gifts.

Such soaring literary talent naturally drew admiration from the female students as well, and even Lady Tao Yashu could not help but steal a glance at Instructor Liao.

Perhaps because he knew he would be spending the day enjoying himself with the female students, Instructor Liao — who was ordinarily quite slovenly in his habits — had taken the rare trouble of washing and tidying himself. Even his unruly beard had been oiled and combed neatly into place. With his tall stature and dressed in a handsomely elegant white robe, he carried a distinctive air of a middle-aged man’s scholarly refinement.

The young women were busy composing and evaluating poetry, absorbed in their own enjoyment. Not wishing to expose her own shortcomings, Chu Linlang kept to herself and did not join in.

But then the Tao family’s Fourth Aunt strolled over and settled herself beside Chu Linlang, turning to her with a slight smile. “Chu Niangzi has returned to Jiangkou — she must be in good spirits. It is just that you have been so busy these past few days that there has been no sign of you.”

Chu Linlang turned and smiled back. “I am a woman of commerce, and unavoidably occupied with business matters. I have been unable to fulfill my duties as a local host and keep the ladies company — please forgive me.”

Tao Huiru studied Chu Linlang with a slight smile. “I heard you resigned from your position at the Deputy Minister’s residence before leaving the capital — was it not to your liking there?”

Chu Linlang smiled mildly. “When I first had the separation, I had nowhere to settle, so I had no choice but to take on a short-term position. Even if the work had suited me, one cannot be a live-in housekeeper manager for one’s entire life.”

Tao Huiru lowered her eyes and gave a small nod. “Master Situ has been so genuinely helpful toward Chu Niangzi — could it be because… the two of you had some prior acquaintance?”

Chu Linlang replied matter-of-factly: “Naturally there is some acquaintance. When the master and the Sixth Prince were investigating a case in Lianzhou, he became familiar with my former husband. Later, when they came to Jizhou, Master Situ and the Sixth Prince came to eat at my home, and he even praised my cooking and said he wished to hire a cook like me. As it happened — fate works in strange ways — I truly ended up at his residence for a spell, managing the household and cooking. Had I known I would one day have to earn my living by this skill, I should have practiced more in my own family’s inn!”

The “prior acquaintance” Tao Huiru had been hoping to hear about was decidedly not this.

Undeterred, she continued to probe: “And before that — back when you were here in Jiangkou — did you not encounter Master Situ? I have heard that the two of you were apparently old neighbors!”

As she spoke, Tao Huiru watched Chu Linlang without blinking, as if searching her face for the faintest trace of alarm.

Had Chu Linlang been caught off guard, she might very well have been startled into revealing something.

Unfortunately, Tao Huiru did not know that Chu Linlang had that very afternoon witnessed the scene of Lady Shen being sent to make inquiries, and had long been on her guard.

Hearing the question, Chu Linlang’s face showed nothing but genuine puzzlement. She frowned and said: “Was Master Situ once posted as an official in Jiangkou? Oh my — I never heard the master mention it. Was he not living with his mother in Yao County, not far from the capital?”

Her performance was so entirely natural that even with Tao Huiru watching her closely, she could detect not the slightest hint of evasion or unease.

At this point, Tao Huiru had nothing but her own suspicions and no concrete evidence whatsoever.

It was simply that Situ Sheng’s eyes were an uncannily close match to Wen Jiangxue’s. And when this young man looked at people, the expression was identical to the dark, unsettling intensity Wen Jiangxue had developed after losing her mind.

Furthermore, this tall young man’s broad back and certain subtle physical characteristics bore a degree of resemblance to Yang Yi — nothing obvious, nothing that could be clearly articulated, something only someone who had known Yang Yi with great intimacy could detect.

This had profoundly shaken Tao Huiru when she first laid eyes on him.

For she knew that her own son, Tao Zan, took more after her in appearance, and even in build resembled the Tao family’s maternal uncles — rather slender, without any trace of the commanding, tiger-like presence of the Yang family’s martial lineage.

And yet this Situ Sheng, a young man with no apparent connection whatsoever, resembled Yang Yi more than her own son did. How could that be?

After meeting Situ Sheng, the more Tao Huiru thought about it, the more the resemblance seemed to deepen — as if something were lodged in her throat, and she could not sleep at night.

When she heard that her niece Tao Yashu wished to join the women’s academy’s excursion to Jiangkou, she had gone along with it, helped persuade her elder brother, and come along to Jiangkou herself.

When Wen Jiangxue had first been sent to Jiangkou to recuperate, it had been a secret kept quiet among only a few members of the Yang family.

Even Tao Huiru had only learned of it afterward.

Before the defeat at Fushu, the early years of her marriage to Yang Yi had been all right. But after about two years, he would leave at regular intervals for a stretch of time — to go and see Wen Jiangxue.

This had been a thorn in Tao Huiru’s throat that she could not spit out and dared not let fester. Since she herself bore undeniable responsibility for Wen Jiangxue’s madness, she had had no choice but to put on a show of generosity and virtue, even taking the initiative to prepare nourishing supplements for Wen Jiangxue and having Yang Yi bring them along.

However intensely jealous each of his visits to Jiangkou made her — she had to endure it all in silence. After all, that woman had gone mad and could no longer compete with her for the man. Letting Yang Yi see the woman he had once loved reduced to madness was the surest way to sever his lingering attachment.

As for that mad woman’s son — he had been taken away by Yang Yi’s father, Yang Xun, to be raised before she ever married into the family. Later, he had died alongside his grandfather on the battlefield, and not even his remains had been recovered.

Now Tao Huiru harbored the suspicion that in the years that followed, Yang Yi might have had another child with that mad woman.

So when Lady Shen had discovered that the mad woman who had lived in Jiangkou did indeed have a boy child living with her, Tao Huiru had felt as though she had swallowed a fly.

What on earth was so special about that Wen Jiangxue? That she had gone mad and yet Yang Yi still could not get her out of his mind?

The greatest source of anguish in Tao Huiru’s entire life was that Yang Yi had turned away from her and gone to marry an obscure commoner woman from Lingnan.

No one knew that when she had spent her days and nights longing for Yang Yi’s return from Lingnan, only to find him paired with that woman as husband and wife — the pain had been enough to tear her heart apart.

Since childhood, both families had always said that Yang Yi would be her husband. How could she stand by and watch him take another woman?

But a daughter of the Tao family had never been the kind of person who dissolved in tears. After weeping bitterly for several days, she seemed to become an entirely different person — she stopped speaking of her desperate love for Yang Yi altogether, went back to the normal social rounds of banquets and conversation, and then deliberately sought out that woman’s acquaintance and befriended her, becoming her intimate companion…

What a pity that all her bitter effort had gained her nothing but a husband who went through the motions without a single genuine feeling for her.

All these years, she had refused to be deterred by the shame attached to his name. She had been understanding of the circumstances that had compelled him during his captivity. She had faithfully kept herself for him, raised their children alone, and preserved a bloodline for the Yang family.

And he had gone and taken another wife and had more children in the Jing Kingdom!

And now she had discovered that he apparently also fathered an illegitimate child with that cast-off mad woman…

At this thought, Tao Huiru’s fingers moved over her prayer beads, trembling slightly with suppressed fury.

However, now, watching Chu Linlang’s completely unruffled reaction, she did not dare to be certain that Situ Sheng was necessarily Wen Jiangxue’s bastard child.

Because Situ Sheng appeared more mature and composed than his recorded age of twenty-five would suggest.

This man had navigated adeptly among the various imperial princes, and had also firmly remonstrated with the Emperor to push through the official farmland reform — a capable official by any measure.

However one looked at him, he did not seem too young.

Even if he were Wen Jiangxue’s firstborn child, he would be only twenty-two this year. And if Wen Jiangxue had borne a child after her separation from Yang Yi — an illegitimate one — then that child would be even younger, perhaps seventeen or eighteen.

A callow young man would find it very difficult to pass himself off as older. Even if his features appeared mature, his immaturity would reveal itself in the depth of his eyes and bearing.

It seemed Situ Sheng could not be that woman’s son after all. People resembling each other by coincidence was not unheard of, and besides, he did not actually look that much like Yang Yi.

Thinking of this, Tao Huiru was still not entirely at ease, and continued to probe: “I have an old friend who used to live in Jiangkou for a long time. Unfortunately she fell ill, and her mind became unclear. Does Chu Niangzi still remember a mad neighbor who used to live next door to your family?”

Chu Linlang thought for a moment, then clapped her hands in apparent recollection: “Now that you mention it, there truly was someone like that! But I was so young at the time, and my family was worried she might strike me, so they never let me get too close… Was she a relative of yours? What became of her afterward? I seem to remember someone saying she died from the illness.”

Tao Huiru gave a slight smile and said no more. Because Chu Niangzi was right — at that time, she had been nothing but a small child. How could she possibly have had any real dealings with a mad woman?

Wen Jiangxue was dead. She should no longer be haunting her dreams.

Was all of this truly just a coincidence? But then where had the child who had been living with the mad woman gone? At that thought, Tao Huiru silently bit her lip, and the prayer beads in her hand began to turn faster.

Seeing that there was nothing further to draw out of Chu Linlang, she stopped speaking to her and walked back to the pond’s edge, now covered in floating lotus lanterns. She stood looking at the specks of light drifting across the water, her brow darkened, lost in silent thought.

Linlang had come this evening for exactly this — waiting for Tao Huiru to ask that question. Having now heard it, she could tell that Tao Huiru still had no solid evidence to prove that Situ Sheng was a scion of the Yang family.

The following day, Chu Linlang had Dongxue keep watch on Lady Shen’s movements.

Dongxue came back to report that during the day, Lady Shen had purchased a large quantity of spirit paper money for burning, and that at nightfall, she had accompanied the Tao family’s Fourth Aunt to the entrance of the old house where the mad woman had once lived, where they had burned the paper offerings.

Although Chu Linlang did not know the full story of those entanglements from the past, watching Tao Huiru’s actions, she surmised that she must carry some guilt in her heart.

People in this world were more or less the same — when their mortal enemy was still alive, there was no underhanded or vicious scheme they were not capable of devising and carrying out. But once that person died, they seemed to become a demon, a ghost — all the more frightening to those who had wronged them.

One could only wonder whether the paper money Tao Huiru was burning was a genuine expression of longing for a former intimate companion, or the purchase of absolution for some unspeakable sin.

But in the days that followed, Tao Huiru continued going around the countryside making inquiries. However, the people she was asking about were youths of seventeen or eighteen — clearly not Situ Sheng at all.

Chu Linlang was thoroughly confused by Tao Huiru’s line of reasoning.

After the night gathering on the lake, Linlang also quietly sought out Liao Jingxuan to have a word with him.

Because of what Situ Sheng had frankly disclosed to her, she knew that Instructor Liao Jingxuan was an old friend of Situ Sheng’s, and was fully aware of his background.

When no one else was nearby, Chu Linlang told Liao Jingxuan in a low voice about Tao Huiru’s probing questions.

Liao Jingxuan grasped the general picture at once and understood immediately what it signified.

He furrowed his brow slightly and said briefly: “I understand. Chu Niangzi may go about her own affairs with a calm mind — there is no need to concern herself with this any further.”

Chu Linlang knew that this Instructor Liao was not nearly as casual as he appeared on the surface.

This man had once traveled with the Ministry of Works to the border to oversee wall construction, and yet had managed to cultivate and place numerous informants along the border between the Jing Kingdom and Great Jin. He surely had his own measures for dealing with matters of this kind.

Linlang let out a sigh and decided to stop concerning herself with the Tao family’s Fourth Aunt and her roamings in search of some young man. Better to go back first and attend to her mother’s care.

The Ronglin Women’s Academy’s vessel fleet would not remain in Jiangkou for long. In a few more days, once the noble young ladies had had their fill of enjoyment, they could turn and head back to the capital.

That Tao Huiru — even if she was intent on making further inquiries — would not linger here indefinitely.

For now, the most pressing matter was first to resolve the question of her mother’s deed of ownership, and then to bring her mother back to the capital as soon as possible, so she could inform Situ Sheng of the potential threat posed by the Tao family’s Fourth Aunt.

Word came back from second elder sister quite quickly.

After returning home, Chu Jinyu had worked diligently to persuade their mother, arguing that keeping Sun Shi around served no purpose. If she died of consumption right there in the house, that would be a terrible omen.

Better to do someone a favor and let Chu Linlang take the woman away — it would also help mend the sisters’ relationship.

After all, her husband was in the naval garrison, and if Chu Linlang could one day use her connections to help smooth Zheng Biao’s path forward, would that not be wonderful?

More importantly, Chu Jinyu told the elder Madam that Chu Linlang was willing to pay in silver to redeem the woman — and the price she was offering was not low.

The elder Madam was won over by what the second daughter had laid out for her. After weighing the advantages and drawbacks, she finally decided to produce the deed of ownership behind Chu Huaisheng’s back and hand it to Chu Jinyu.

Having watched Sun Shi spitting blood that day, she clearly had little time left to live. The elder Madam had loathed Sun Shi for more than just a day or two — if she could die outside, sparing the household the cost of a coffin and burial cloth, was that not perfectly convenient?

And there was also the matter of showing the other concubines still in the household who held their lives in her hands.

If they were as meek and obedient as Sun Shi had been, she as the principal wife would naturally have no reason to trouble them.

But if any of them persisted in their scheming ways and drained the master’s vitality with their fox-like wiles, they too could expect to be sold off at her discretion as principal wife!

When Chu Jinyu brought over Sun Shi’s deed of ownership, Chu Linlang kept her word and truly gave both her and Sun Shi a sum of silver each.

But Chu Linlang took one precaution — she had Chu Jinyu write out a receipt for the silver on Sun Shi’s behalf, and had Sun Shi press her fingerprint to it as well. With this receipt in hand, even if Chu Huaisheng later tried to accuse her of stealing the deed, there would be nothing he could do.

—

When Chu Huaisheng returned from attending to his salt affairs, he heard that the elder Madam and the second daughter had given Chu Linlang Sun Shi’s deed of ownership without consulting him, and was so furious he leapt off the ground right where he stood.

“Two fools! That Sun Shi was perfectly fine just the other day — how could a splash of hot soup give her an incurable illness? Come — help me get that deed back!”

With that, Chu Huaisheng rushed off with his son Chu Renfeng to the guest inn to find Chu Linlang.

By this time Chu Linlang had long since packed her bags and was ready to take her mother back to the capital.

Watching her father arrive to make trouble — claiming that the second daughter had stolen the deed and it was invalid, and that he intended to take Sun Shi back — Chu Linlang stood calmly at the stairwell entrance, blocking Chu Huaisheng from going up.

“This deed of ownership was obtained in exchange for my silver, and the elder Madam has issued a receipt for the payment. The elder Madam is the fully recognized principal mistress of the Chu household — selling off a concubine without the master’s knowledge is entirely within her legal and moral authority. Since the transaction has been completed on both ends, with no stealing involved, why should it be invalid? My mother has long been displeased with you. Without the deed, she is a free person — having been abused by you for so long, she has long wished to sever the bond completely. She does not even require a letter of repudiation! I have already burned the deed of ownership — you cannot get it back!”

Hearing these words, Chu Huaisheng, as the father, felt his dignity being thoroughly trampled underfoot by this unfilial wretch of a daughter.

He flew into a rage: “You wretched girl! You dare forget who your father is! Do you truly think that because you have made the acquaintance of a few noble ladies, you have become imperial kin yourself? Others may be intimidated by your borrowed prestige, but I am not! My own household affairs — even the King of Heaven himself has no business interfering!”

So saying, he charged forward, intending to push into the room and drag Sun Shi back.

He was, after all, a man of standing and reputation in Jiangkou. For a concubine who had borne him children to demand to leave — where would he put his face?

Sun Shi would die only in the Chu family’s house, even if she had to. And this wretched Chu Linlang had also openly challenged his authority as a father — how could he not teach her a lesson?

Unfortunately, he had forgotten — while the third daughter might or might not be borrowing borrowed prestige, the old man at her side was a genuine and literal demon.

Just as he charged forward, Seventh Master grabbed him by the collar with one hand, then gave a single throw. Chu Huaisheng landed hard on his backside, slamming down onto the step below with a force that made him cry out in a wavering, trembling pitch, as if his very tail had been snapped off.

Chu Renfeng had already heard his father say that third sister had hired a formidable old man as her bodyguard. So this time, when he had come to help his father take back the concubine, he had come prepared, rounding up five or six street thugs as hired muscle.

They had never witnessed Sui Qiye’s throwing knives, and thought — what was there to fear from one lean, dry old man? Even if he had some skill, could he hold off this many young and able-bodied men at once?

When Chu Renfeng rushed over to haul his father back to his feet and began shouting “assault, assault!,” the few thugs behind him pulled out the iron rods they had tucked in their clothes and surged forward as one.

Chu Linlang had always known Chu Renfeng was a scoundrel, but she had not expected him to dare round up thugs for a brawl in broad daylight.

Watching those men pull out their iron rods, she genuinely worried whether a single old man could hold off so many young, able-bodied thugs.

But very quickly she understood why Situ Sheng had assigned only a single elderly man as her bodyguard.

When Seventh Master saw that crowd surging toward him, he did not even bother to draw his throwing knife. He simply extended one hand in a small lock-and-seize grip, caught the arm of the thug in front, and with one swift wrench — a sharp crack — dislocated the man’s shoulder. He then seized the iron rod from his hand.

Seventh Master swung the iron rod and unhurriedly stepped back two paces, planting himself at the top of the staircase. From the higher ground, he began bringing the rod down heavily — like striking iron — onto the shoulders and heads of the men below.

Although Chu Renfeng had gathered quite a number of thugs, the staircase was narrow, and they could not all rush up at once, only one or two at a time. They came up like senseless deer — each one was cracked over the head by Sui Qiye the moment they arrived, eyes rolling back before they toppled rearward, and then two more senseless deer would step up to fill the gap.

In no time at all, the staircase was draped with fallen bodies.

One man remained standing — he had been the last to move forward, but by then the ground was entirely carpeted in fallen men and there was nowhere left to set his foot.

Watching Sui Qiye pick up both iron rods and stride toward him with a ferocious glare, the man made the disloyal decision to hurl down his own rod and run for his life.

Unfortunately for Chu Renfeng, Sui Qiye rarely got such a satisfying fight and had not yet worked up a full appetite. His eye landed on Chu Renfeng — this young man had been the most vociferous one from the start, and had even called Chu Niangzi a contemptible woman.

So he turned and went for Chu Renfeng, without any hesitation, swinging the iron rod and bringing it down all over the man’s body.

Chu Renfeng had never suffered like this in his life. He was pummeled into rolling on the ground, arms over his head, screaming frantically for mercy.

At this point, the inn’s proprietor had long since reported the incident to the authorities, and constables arrived quickly to take people into custody.

The county magistrate’s assistant, however, already knew who Chu Linlang was. After ascertaining the facts, he understood exactly what had happened.

Since silver had been paid and a concubine released, with the principal wife’s signed and fingerprinted receipt as proof, the Chu family father and son naturally had no grounds to be seizing anyone.

The chaos at the guest inn had also witnesses who confirmed that the Chu family father and son had been the ones to initiate violence.

In the end, the county magistrate’s assistant charged the Chu family father and son and the injured thugs with inciting and starting a brawl, and had them all taken to the jail together. They would only be released upon payment of the fine.

As the Chu family father and son were being escorted away, Sun Shi stood at the window watching. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.

To her mind, this was the most impossibly unsolvable situation imaginable — and yet it had been resolved with such ease.

Chu Linlang came upstairs and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, saying softly in her ear:

“Mother — you are free.”